BYU is in the business of helping students with New Year’s resolutions.
For students trying to get fit, BYU’s new class, Y-Be-Fit, is a program where participants can have their health and fitness levels assessed and then receive counseling about how to improve.
“We assess and then prescribe ways to help them improve their health and fitness,” said James LeCheminant, a graduate student who helps run the program.
The assessment includes tests of body composition, blood cholesterol levels, cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility, stomach and lower back strength and blood pressure, said LeCheminant.
The body composition test, which measures body fat percentage, is done on a system called the Bod Pod, said Julie Leininger, a fitness and wellness management major who is an intern with the Y-Be-Fit program.
“They used to do skin fold testing and hydrostatic weighing to find out body fat, but now we use the Bod Pod,” Leininger said.
Leininger said that the Bod Pod is accurate, getting as close as 2-4 percent off the actual body fat percentage.
The Bod Pod uses the same concept as hydrostatic weighing, which measures the amount of water displaced by the body, except with air. Electronic pressure sensors measure the amount of air displaced by the body, and the test only takes five minutes, according to BodPod.com.
Leininger said that several students have come into the Y-Be-Fit office to find out their body fat percentages.
The Y-Be-Fit assessment also includes the measurements of the participant’s height and weight, and an evaluation of the participant’s diet.
The participant is asked to keep a three-day diary of what they eat, which is then evaluated by the Y-Be-Fit staff.
After all the results are in, the participant is given a personalized booklet which contains the test results and highlights the participant’s areas of high risk, Leininger said.
The counseling sessions can then begin. “We do the assessment here, but we are mostly a counseling service,” said LeCheminant.
